My rear brakes have been bad since I got the truck. They were what was stopping me. They would even lock up on me if I wasn't careful. I replaced the proportioning valve because the shoes and springs looked okay. That didn't fix it. I did a full rear brake job yesterday and replaced the shoes with some riveted ones. Also replaced all the springs. This was my first time doing a drum brake job by the way. After doing it and redoing the adjusters, it finally stops correctly. However, the pedal goes down much farther than before. It will stop, good...I just don't think the pedal should be going down that far. Do I need to bleed the brakes? Or is this normal? How far does your pedal go down.

 

If you didn't replace the wheel cylinders, you wouldn't have to bleed the brakes...when I got my truck, the pedal went down past the gas pedal a little...after checking them (they were ok), I adjusted them until there was very slight drag on the drum, and the pedal is well above the gas pedal.

 

I didn't replace the cylinders. Shouldn't the front brakes grab before I press the pedal almost all the way to the floor?

 

My pedal grabs past the gas pedel and my brakes are relativley good and fluid is topped off. I have noticed the older the vehicle gets no matter how many times you put on brand new breaks, they always seem to be "lower" then it was when it was new. It's weird and I have no explantaion for it, even on my families cars that I often work on, the more miles on the vehicle, regardless of new brakes and rotors/drums, the pedal never really seems to come back as it was when it was new.

On the locking up thing you were talking about, my rear brakes will lock up on me when its been wet out. Assuming its corrosion that buils on the inside of the drums, after a few miles the brakes go back to normal. The only thing I can think of is that since the master cylinder runs off a vacume, make sure the vacume lines are good and have no leaks, and that the rear drums are adjust properly, and the front brake system is in good order. I hate doing brakes

 

Yes. As long as you're absolutely sure that the pedal wasn't this low before doing the rear brakes, I'd say they're not adjusted properly. Either that or a complete coincidence that your master cyl. has decided to give out, or you've sprung a leak somehwere.

The brake booster is run off of vacuum, not the master cylinder...a bad brake booster will give a high, but very hard to push brake pedal. As for your rears locking up, you could remove the drum and dispose of the brake dust that's in there (with proper breathing protection of course)...also check that the little rubber adjuster plugs are in the backing plate, alot of people don't put them back in, see it everyday at work, causes the dust to get even more moist and lockup or squeal.

 

I appologize, I got mixed up. I was meaning brake booster, not the master.

 

I forgive you [sm=deal.gif] [sm=smarty.gif] Didn't want to confuse Fubba, that's all

 

I'm with shott aslo, if its raining and my truck has been sitting for a while the brakes are super super sensative and will lock up easy. After a bit of driving they work jst fine.

 

I readjusted the rears. It fixed it. The shoes or springs must have seated better, because I had to turn the adjusters quite a bit. As for my locking up problem, it happened ALL THE TIME. Not just when wet.